UNICEF ROSA /Publication June 2009

1 South Asia comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

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A Ma� er of MagnitudeThe Impact of the Economic Crisis on Women and Children in South Asia

The eight countries in South Asia1 have been shaken by the shocks and turbulence in commodity and fi nancial markets over the last two years. These changes have infl icted new and drama� c stress on vast swathes of the popula� on in a region where more than 1.18 billion people, or three quarters of the popula� on, in eight countries subsist on less than $2 a day (World Bank). Without urgent, inclusive government response, the poor of South Asia – nearly 20% of the world's popula� on – will sink further into poverty and malnutri� on, with long-term nega� ve consequences for growth and development in the region and globally.

High levels of income inequality, rapid urbaniza� on, persistent and pervasive social polariza� on, increasing food prices, a lack of government a� en� on to agriculture and rural development, and the moun� ng eff ects of climate change - droughts, fl oods and cyclones - are just some of the reasons why more than 1 in 5 of South Asia’s popula� on was exposed to hunger and malnutri� on, even before the food, fuel and fi nancial crises struck in 2008. The hardship has fallen most heavily upon women and children, people living in poverty, and the socially marginalized.

This ‘silent crisis’ of hunger and malnutri� on, already a fact of life for millions of South Asians, has been forced into sharper focus by the food and fuel price shocks of 2008. In fact, the situa� on is worsening as the mul� ple impacts of the crises begin to take root. As a result, the IMF and World Bank have highlighted a “development emergency”, poin� ng to the serious and long-las� ng consequences for the poor and the lives, welfare and prospects of the most vulnerable, especially the region’s children.

“It hurts my heart that we cannot provide the things my children need. To earn enough money to feed the family for one day we have to work for two days. We have sold two of our bulls and most of my rings and necklaces. The only assets we have le� are this house and three small bulls but we cannot get them good fodder” Nawa Dumchi Bikar, Mugu District, Nepal (April 2009)

A woman collects bread for her family in Karachi - about 51 percent ofPakistanis do not have enough food due to price hikes

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Understanding and tracking the eff ects of this complex interplay of global, evolving trends and their impact on poor and excluded communi� es in South Asia will be crucial to determine the policies and strategies required of governments and all partners. These policies must help cushion the blows and, at a minimum, ensure that the most basic needs of the most vulnerable are met in the present, while taking steps to protect their well-being and security into the future.

A Ma� er of FactIn the space of two years, the number of people suff ering from chronic hunger in South Asia has increased by about 100 million. Hunger in South Asia was already at vastly unacceptable levels at 300 million before the start of the crises and is now es� mated to be more than 400 million by the close of 2008. An increase of about 100 million represents the highest levels of hunger recorded in forty years. By comparison, globally, there are an es� mated one billion people who are hungry, and 2.6 billion who are poor.

Table 1: The Growing Number of Hungry in South Asia (in millions)

Recent survey results from Bangladesh (FAO, February 2009), Nepal (WFP, February 2009) and Pakistan (Inter-Agency mission, July 2008) suggest that the crisis is festering:

• In Nepal, the total number of people at risk to hunger rose by 50 percent (from 6 million to over 9 million people) in just 6 months last year;

• In Pakistan, the es� mated number of hungry people rose by 16 percent from 72 million to 84 million over a period of a year and a half ; and,

• In Bangladesh the 2007/2008 es� mated number of food insecure people was 65.3 million, an increase of 7.5 million, or 13 percent from the previous year.

Given the scale of the economic slowdown, coupled with price increases for many staple foods, there is no evidence to suggest that other countries in the region have fared any be� er.

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Figure 1 below relates the latest hunger es� mates (as a percent of popula� on consuming less than the minimum country specifi c threshold), to the World Bank `poverty’ lines ($1.25/person/day and $2/person/day). The graph demonstrates that even if ‘hunger’ is diffi cult to measure, the scale of the problem in South Asia is very large: 33 percent of South Asians eat less than the minimum recommended daily requirements, and 74 percent live in households earning less than $2/day. These households typically spend 60-70% of their total expenditure on food and are therefore extremely vulnerable when food prices rise. In countries with persistent and high infl a� on, such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka, almost all those earning less than $2/day face inadequate access to food, as their household budgets are stressed beyond their means. In many South Asian countries, per capita calorie consump� on has remained stagnant or fallen over the last fi � een years, despite rising per capita incomes. Thus, the challenge of hunger and malnutri� on in South Asia is both a problem of ‘access to food’ and also the ‘adequacy of food and feeding prac� ces’, par� cularly for young children.

Figure : Measures of Depriva� on in South Asia

With such vast numbers already in poverty, the combined eff ects of the food, fuel and fi nancial crises are clearly intensifying malnutri� on and hunger, worsening poverty and eroding the social fabric that binds families and communi� es together. These eff ects also violate the rights of every child to food, educa� on, good health and protec� on.

At the same � me, the crises threaten to overturn the progress that countries have made towards reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The poten� al loss of capacity and produc� vity amongst a genera� on of children and young adults in the near future, due to stunted intellectual and physical growth, should be of major concern to countries dependent on an able energe� c and young popula� on to fuel economic growth and future prosperity. Moreover, governments are morally compelled to ensure that children, the most vulnerable members of society, do not bear the burden of the crises they did not create.

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er of Scale mately on

on. Almost half the world’s poor currently live in South Asia. And many, if not most of these people, were hungry and malnourished even before the food, fuel and fi nancial crises began in 2008.

Children under the age of 18 make up 41 percent of the South on - 615 million persons. Of the 175 million children

under 5 years who live in the region, 45 percent are malnourished on in the

world, eclipsing even sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the fact that countries in South Asia have much higher GDP growth rates, there are more than twice as many underweight children in South Asia than in Africa. Indeed, by any measure, the numbers of children malnourished -- wasted and stunted -- in South Asia are far higher than anywhere else on earth.

Yet these numbers do not reveal the full magnitude of the problem. They do not refl ect the lack of shelter, water and

es that aff ect millions of children in South Asia.

Some eff ects of the global recession on economies in South Asia

• India’s exports plunged by 15 percent in October 2008 and by 19% in Feb 2009, as a direct result of the global economic crisis (UNDP 2009). Labour-intensive sectors such as the garment industry, leather, gems and jewellery were the worst aff ected.

• The Pakistan economy is extremely fragile and among the most vulnerable in the region due to high fi scal and current account defi cits, runaway infl ng foreign exchange reserves, a weak currency and considerable internal security issues. Pakistan has been forced to ask for fi nancial assistance to cover short-term debt and stabilize its economy. In November 2008, the IMF approved a $7.6 billion loan package for Pakistan.

ons in the region face similar problems: Sri Lanka and Maldives, being food and fuel importers, found themselves exposed to sharp increases in their import bills. Tourism, an important source of revenue has suff ered in both countries.

• Bangladesh was forced to import 300 percent more rice in 2007 (FAO/WFP data) due to cyclones and fl me, its export sector, especially garments, could be aff ected due to weak global demand in 2009.

• Nepal, emerging from a decade of confl ict and low growth, imports a large share of its goods and services through India, including fuel and food. However, in Nepal, as in Bangladesh, strong fl ances from abroad propped falling current account balances in their

ve countries during 2008; this eff ect appears to be waning in mid-2009. Tourism may ng incomes in tourist origin countries.

on of the Tala Hydroelectric nued to enjoy a current account surplus. Its growth cycle is very closely linked

onal crisis, although the tourism sector could be under threat as global tourism demand drops.

A Malnourished child in Bihar, Indiawhere 56 percent of under fi vesare underweight

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UNICEF data indicate that 300 million children, 54 percent of the region’s children, are es� mated to live in condi� ons of child poverty (defi ned as being deprived of two or more basic needs – such as food, health services, educa� on, and shelter). Nearly 8 in 10 children live without secured access to one of the basic social services. More than 6 in 10 children, almost 345 million in total, are at risk of sickness and disease due to the lack or absence of proper sanita� on (UNICEF ROSA, Regional Study on Child Poverty and Dispari� es, forthcoming).

Women and children under 5 are most at risk because they do not have the assets or resources to cope with shocks. This is par� cularly the case in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan where young children under 18 make up an even greater share of the popula� on than in other South Asian countries. Excluded or ethnic minori� es are also adversely aff ected because they have limited and o� en unreliable access assets, to basic social services, and to social protec� on.

Once born into poverty, children are more likely to remain poor as adults, trapped in an unrelen� ng cycle because the eff ect of poor nutri� on and exclusion from educa� on, health, clean water and sanita� on stymies their poten� al for life. Moreover, their lost produc� ve poten� al is large and poten� ally irreversible. Providing food and nutri� on security as well as jobs to South Asia’s youth, both today and in the future, are therefore entwined policy priori� es.

Nepalese children in Mugu district, watch storm clouds gather over the Himalayas.Food prices here are up by 40 Percent since last year.

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A Ma� er of UrgencyThe economic crisis is likely to have an even greater impact, if urgent ac� on is not taken. Every country in South Asia has been aff ected by the economic crises through slowdown in global demand, surging domes� c infl a� on, especially of food items, contrac� on of fi scal space, structural changes in the labor markets and vola� le capital fl ows. The IMF has accordingly revised GDP growth es� mates downwards for all countries in South Asia to an average of 3.9 percent in 2009 and less than 5 percent for 2010. As a comparison, between 2005-2007 GDP growth rates nearly reached 10 percent for the region.

Although South Asian economies are s� ll expected to grow faster than other advanced economies that are already experiencing recession, the fallout will be signifi cant, with low-income food and energy defi cit countries of the region most at risk. When even the high growth rates of the mid-2000s did not generate adequate employment, the projected reduced GDP growth rates and defl a� on due to the crises cannot maintain exis� ng formal sector employment, let alone absorb the large numbers of youth who come into the labor market each year.

Pressure on the informal sector will intensify – where an es� mated 90 percent of the South Asian labor force ekes out a living. This pressure will hollow-out wages pushing larger numbers of the working poor further below the poverty line. With slower GDP growth ahead, governments in the region may resort to reducing the real value of transfers to households at a � me when new measures are urgently needed to assure income par� cularly to those in insecure employment.

South Asia’s labour markets are currently contrac� ng as overseas trade slows, aff ec� ng large sec� ons of the workforce, both in the formal and informal or unorganized sector. For example: in India, the diamond industry has laid off some 200,000 diamond polishers in Surat since October 2008 due to falling demand for luxury items from overseas2.

This sector employs almost 1 million workers, many of whom are migrants. India’s labour intensive co� on tex� les and leather sectors are also vulnerable and job losses in the IT and automobile sectors are moun� ng. In January 2009, a survey conducted by the Indian Central Employment Ministry es� mated that the total job losses since October 2008 came to over half a million. The garment industry in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal are also under threat from falling demand in the markets of the North and increased compe� � on.

“I was so embarrassed [that] I had no savings. My children expected me to give them at least one gi� when I came back from Malaysia,” he said. ‘ But I haven’t even bought a single piece of new clothing for anybody in the family and I had to take my daughter out of school. “ Mo� Khan, Gazipur district, Bangladesh (March 2009)

2 Source: Indian Express Report on Survey conducted by Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, India. April 2009. h� p://www.indianexpress.com/news/since-diwali-two-lakh-jobs-lost-in-surat-di/423659/

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Remi� ances from migrant work overseas, a tradi� onal source of income for many South Asian households, are under threat from global contrac� on. The World Bank es� mates that globally remi� ances are expected to drop to $290 billion in 2009, from last year’s high of $305 billion. Foreign remi� ances con� nue to outstrip capital fl ows and offi cial development aid in many countries and have remained rela� vely “resilient” for the � me being; but increasingly, low skilled migrant workers from South Asia are being laid off and sent home3.

A Ma� er of SurvivalAn overwhelming majority of South Asian families have been aff ected by high infl a� on and in par� cular, rising food costs. Those hit the hardest are on the margin and just below the poverty line – that is, the urban poor, rural landless, women and children, and other socially excluded ethnic and minority groups. Typically, these groups spend more than 60-70 percent of their income on food, have larger families, lack suffi cient assets to cushion them from rising prices and have limited or no access to insurance and credit facili� es.

Evidence from past crises shows that when faced with unemployment and lower wages, poor families eat cheaper and less nutri� ous food, leading to weight loss and malnutri� on, especially for young children and pregnant women. Fees for school, including the costs of textbooks, uniforms and transporta� on, become unaff ordable for poorer families, forcing them to pull their children from class to join the workforce or support the household - seldom returning to school a� erwards and eff ec� vely ending their chance of a formal educa� on.

A picture is now beginning to emerge of how the most vulnerable would try and survive this crisis. Many families have no real op� on except resor� ng to ineff ec� ve short-term solu� ons with irreversible consequences, especially for children4. In the absence of suffi cient, fl exible assets or of social protec� on and safety nets, poor families have been forced to resort to a range of dras� c survival measures (FAO, Food Insecurity in Bangladesh, February 2009; UN Inter Agency Mission, Pakistan, July 2008, WFP Nepal, February 2009):

• Decreasing incomes aff ect the quality and quan� ty of food consumed especially for women who eat last in many South Asian households. According to FAO (2006), more than 60 percent of chronically hungry people globally are women.

• Household spending on health and educa� on may be squeezed out with long-term consequences. For example, children are moved from fee-paying private schools to lower quality public schools, sent to work,

Health workers, Bau Bazaar slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, distribute micro-nutrient sprinkle powders to mothers Ph

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3 In Nepal, for example, remi� ances are es� mated to represent 17% of GDP and there is a reported slowdown in migrant departures to Malaysia and the Gulf States. See Kathmandu Post 18 May 2009. 4 UNICEF/WFP/UN Interagency missions have made available recent fi eld surveys and rapid assessments conducted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India. UNICEF is currently concluding a food and nutri� on survey in Sri Lanka.

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and in some cases pulled out of school altogether. In many South Asian countries, girls are removed from school before their brothers. (UN Inter Agency Mission Report: High Food Prices in Pakistan. July 2008).

• Reduced wages and job losses due to economic slow-down o� en force families to send women and children to work outside the home to bring in extra income. While becoming a formal breadwinner can enhance the status of women within the household, it also means they may have less � me for childcare and ensuring children are ea� ng properly. In addi� on, when domes� c responsibili� es devolve to girl children, it is o� en at the cost of their educa� on. Children sent to work lose out on educa� on and risk exposure to injury and other health risks on the job.

• Domes� c and interna� onal migra� on of family members in search of be� er job prospects

can off er an escape route from poverty. However, migra� on may also place workers in low produc� vity jobs, with poor access to basic services, as well as in jobs with increased exposure to unforgiving and dangerous work condi� ons. In cases where key family members are absent, the disrup� on to tradi� onal family arrangements can have adverse consequences for children who may be le� una� ended or in the care of surrogate parents.

• Already stretched to the limit, families tend to borrow money at high interest rates and sell-off hard earned assets. As a consequence, they are le� without resources and assets to buff er against further shocks and rising food prices.

• Resources usually allocated to women and children for food and educa� on may change as families struggle to cope with new and unforeseen hardships. Educa� on and play� me may diminish as children are drawn into paid or unpaid work. More worrisome, the incidence of early marriage, traffi cking, neglect and abuse may increase when families struggle to cope with less food, poorer health and cramped living condi� ons.

As a result of these short-term, o� en necessary coping strategies, families fi nd themselves worse off than before, with decreasing means to stop or reverse their descent into absolute poverty and to cope with future shocks and price fl uctua� ons. Besides the nega� ve impact on child health and educa� on, such emergency coping strategies have serious macro implica� ons for economic growth. This is par� cularly striking at a � me when most South Asian countries have increasing numbers of their popula� on moving towards the working age.

A Ma� er of Economic Sense The global economic meltdown is now a full-fl edged development challenge for South Asia. In response, governments in the region have taken bold and some� mes unconven� onal steps to s� mulate growth and shield their ci� zens from the calamitous eff ects of the combined crises. Thus, although the forecasts appear dire, there is cause for hope that governments will seize this opportunity to address both fi scal and social crises simultaneously.

With the vision to employ progressive approaches, leaders across South Asia should use the present crisis as an opportunity to provide addi� onal, more inclusive and higher quality social services.Such support can help to address chronic hunger and malnutri� on, achieve be� er and more equitable health and educa� on outcomes, forestall rising poverty and inequality, and at the same � me make

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What UNICEF is Doing

UNICEF is working with our UN, government and other partners to respond to these crises in a number of ways.

• Strengthening the evidence-base to inform decision-making on appropriate policy and programme interven� ons. This includes suppor� ng emergency food and nutri� on surveys, leading or joining vulnerability and impact assessment missions at sub-na� onal level, as well as bolstering systems to monitor school drop-out and incidence of child labour.

• Enhancing policy and research ini� a� ves in areas such as child poverty and dispari� es, gender, social budge� ng, social protec� on, migra� on and legisla� ve reform. This approach involves working with local and interna� onal ins� tu� ons as well as na� onal partners to analyze trends and na� onal responses to the crises.

• Demonstra� ng what works as well as suppor� ng and scaling-up na� onal programmes on nutri� on and associated health interven� ons. These programmes include reinforcing community-based management of acute malnutri� on, newborn and maternal health ini� a� ves and support to basic health services through childhood, youth and early adulthood for women.

• Strengthening and improving access to water, sanita� on and hygiene and educa� on, with a par� cular focus on universal coverage to ensure access for the most vulnerable.

• Strong advocacy at na� onal, regional and global levels for expanding social protec� on systems for the most vulnerable.

their economies more produc� ve and compe� � ve for the future. It thus also makes economic sense to invest in the right to basic social services – they pay for themselves over � me. Moreover, it makes poli� cal sense: economic stability ul� mately depends on addressing poverty, inequity and discrimina� on, which are strongly linked to poli� cal instability.

To leaders and policy makers struggling with a threat of diminishing fi scal resources, mobilizing resources for social investment may appear counter-intui� ve. However, taking a long-term, visionary approach is both possible and makes good economic, social and poli� cal sense. While the eff ects of crises may pass with � me, decisions taken today will aff ect the future of South Asia - whose popula� on is expected to increase by another 440 million within the next twenty years, crossing the 2 billion mark.

Government Ac� on: Food and Fuel Price StrategiesWhile the economic and food price crises did not originate in South Asia, governments in the region have had to introduce various measures to address the slowdown in growth, investment, exports and

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surging domes� c infl a� on by providing ad hoc safety nets, subsidies on food and fuel, or comprehensive economic s� mulus packages. In early and mid 2008 federal governments across all countries of South Asia were forced to raise the market prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene, promp� ng strikes and protests in many parts of the region. The rising price of fuel aff ected the costs of transport, freight, fer� lizers and electricity and eventually basic food staples such as rice, wheat and cereals. Bangladesh and India succeeded in subsidizing rice prices, keeping them below the interna� onal levels.

Overall, however, although interna� onal prices have now declined from their peak in 2008, food prices throughout South Asia are s� ll higher than in 2007. This also refl ects systemic problems in the agricultural sector throughout most of South Asia countries, where produc� vity gains and reforms have lagged behind improvements in other sectors such as industry and services.

This food price infl a� on decreases the ability of families to buy food in suffi cient quan� ty and quality, especially when 60-70 percent of a household’s budget is devoted to food expenditure (ADB, 2008, country specifi c household and income expenditure surveys). Comprehensive government strategies will therefore be required over a sustained period.

A Ma� er of Protec� on Currently, all countries of the region employ a range of social protec� on instruments (UNICEF ROSA 2009). For instance, the South Asian governments off er their ci� zens some form of poverty-related cash transfers. Examples include the Sri Lankan Samurdhi programme, created in 1995, which provides food stamps for women, youth and disadvantaged groups, public works and youth employment opportuni� es, and credit schemes; Pakistan’s recent ini� a� ve – the Benazir Fund - aims to cover 5 million poor households and primarily addresses women, and has most recently been expanded to include newly displaced popula� ons.

Many countries have school meal programmes, contribu� ng to basic food intake of school-age children and serving as an incen� ve to a� end classes. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have well-established food-for-work and cash-for-work employment programmes. India introduced a large employment guarantee scheme (NREGA) for the rural poor in 2005 and this approach is being replicated in Bangladesh and Nepal. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka use systems of ra� on cards or price-controlled shops to address food price infl a� on. Sri Lanka has adopted a na� onal nutri� on plan which includes access to nutri� ous food for low-income households. While all eight countries feature public sector old-age pensions, Nepal has a unique system of non-contributory old age pensions for all ci� zens over the age of 70, which reaches even remote areas of the country.

But more needs to be done. Roughly 1.18 billion people living on less than $2/day in South Asia and the swelling numbers of children and adults living in condi� ons of extreme hunger and malnutri� on argue for more comprehensive forms of social protec� on.

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Ideas and ini� a� ves abound. These include:

• nutri� on supplements in public employment schemes (Nepal);• universal pensions for the elderly and disabled currently under discussion in India;• health-related grants such as maternity benefi ts or transport grants to cover delivery

expenditures in India and Nepal;• examining the adop� on of a comprehensive social protec� on package, spanning universal

free primary health care, a social pension, and state contribu� ons to ease food and transport prices (Maldives).

One forward looking idea, proposed by the UN system and the Interna� onal Financial Ins� tu� ons, is to develop a “social protec� on fl oor” ensuring access to basic social services, shelter, empowerment and protec� on of the poor and vulnerable5. In this vein, some argue for a minimum social transfer to all ci� zens, albeit introduced in a gradual fashion. Building on current social assistance schemes, such a universal fl oor may be geographically targeted to focus on, for example, the poorest regions in a country and provide support to all residents there instead of singling out the poorest6. A minimum social transfer could also be phased-in by targe� ng vulnerable age groups (categorical targe� ng by age). A more comprehensive version of such a social fl oor would be a universal child benefi t for every young child. Such an approach could serve to contribute to expenses for access to food and nutri� on, health and child care. It could, as a result, help break the pernicious cycle of child poverty, and address the most urgent and irreversible consequences of child malnutri� on.

What Ma� ers Now There is a wide range of economic policy interven� ons and tools available to respond to the current situa� on. There is also growing consensus that government must act quickly. Government fi scal s� mulus packages as well as donor assistance are key opportuni� es to strengthen and improve health and educa� on services and enhance of social protec� on programmes for the long-term - expanding them to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized. The drama� c impact of the fuel, food price and fi nancial crises presents an important opportunity for countries in the region to restructure and scale-up social systems.

The following are four key recommenda� ons for government ac� on in South Asia. Each recommenda� on will need to be tailored to the specifi c condi� ons at country level. However, taken together, they represent a minimum set of ac� ons that should be implemented urgently. 1. Urgently address the enormous problem of malnutri� on in South Asia.

• Begin or expand malnutri� on preven� on interven� ons before and during pregnancy; • Accelerate nutri� on interven� ons to children under two years of age e.g. large-scale

promo� on of early ini� a� on and exclusive breas� eeding up to 6 months followed by adequate complementary feeding;

• Ensure regular nutri� onal monitoring of children under fi ve and pregnant women in real � me using sen� nel and spot surveys, and during rou� ne preven� ve health services or outreach campaigns;

• Rapidly scale-up supplementary and therapeu� c feeding at community level to address severe acute malnutri� on.

5 See Secretariat of the United Na� ons System. Chief Execu� ves Board for Coordina� on, Communiqué, Paris, 9 April 2009. www.un.org . 6 Advantages of such an approach are lower administra� ve costs since means tes� ng to iden� fy households living below a defi ned poverty line are costly and methodologically complex.

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2. Rapidly expand inclusive access to basic social services• Increase access to clean drinking water and improved sanita� on; • Promote hand-washing with soap na� on-wide as one of the most eff ec� ve public health

ac� ons;• Improve community empowerment to scale-up community-based preven� on and care

interven� ons; • Ensure inclusive, child-friendly, high-quality health and educa� on, making sure primary health

and educa� on services are genuinely free, and involve communi� es

3. Enhance publicly-fi nanced employment and training schemes, par� cularly for youth.• Include child-relevant infrastructure improvements and staffi ng of schools, clinics, early

childhood centers, in fi scal s� mulus packages – thus crea� ng jobs and improving social services together;

• Expand protec� ve services to address exploita� on, violence and abuse;• Introduce or expand employment and training schemes, especially for youth, in

manufacturing, the services industry, private entrepreneurship and government to address youth unemployment and disaff ec� on.

4. Enhance and systema� ze social protec� on for all• Boost food and cash social transfers already in place to address food price hikes;• Consider the gradual introduc� on of a social protec� on fl oor, star� ng with a universal child

benefi t. These recommenda� ons can be implemented in the short- to medium-term. This would

serve as a as rapid and forward looking response to the crises and should be integrated into fi scal s� mulus packages.

While the costs of such eff orts may seem considerable now, their long-term return in unques� onable:

over � me children and women who are be� er educated and in be� er health contribute substan� ally more to na� onal growth and development. South Asia and the world need that growth.

The cost of doing nothing is enormous – economically and morally. The � me to act is now.

In the end only inves� ng in children will prevent the crisis facing this genera� on from being passed on to the next (malnourished children eat at a health centre in Bihar, India)

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"Read Country Profiles at http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfhq4nhj_3gp6f8jhb"

KEY RESOURCESUNICEFwww.UNICEF.org

UNDPwww.undp.org

International Monetary Fundwww.imf.org

• Economic Crisis Starts to Hit World's Poorest Countrieshttp://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2009/NEW030309A.htm

• Global Leaders to Assess Response to World Recessionhttp://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2009/NEW042009A.htm

The World Bankwww.worldbank.org

Asian Development Bankwww.adb.org

ODI• ODI/UNICEF framework linking financial crisis to children

http://www.UNICEF.org.uk/publications/pdf/odi-presentation.pdfChatham House

• The Feeding of the Nine Billionhttp://www.globaldashboard.org/2009/01/26/the-feeding-of-the-nine-billion/Read country profile at www.

United Nations Children’s FundRegional Office South AsiaLekhnath Marg, Lainchour, KathmanduNepalwww.unicef.org/rosa

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